Cloquet and Duluth fly-fishermen who survived a floatplane crash July 14 in Labrador are now recuperating back in Duluth.
Karl Kaufman of Cloquet and Randall Hicks of Duluth were on a fly-fishing trip in Labrador when the DeHavilland Beaver floatplane they were riding in crashed in a bog shortly after takeoff.
Kaufman returned to Duluth last Saturday from a hospital in St. John's, Newfoundland, where he had surgery on a broken ankle and was treated for a broken leg and a dislocated thumb. He is staying at Lakeshore Lutheran Home, were he is undergoing therapy for his injuries.
Hicks returned to Duluth on Friday afternoon from a hospital in Quebec City, Quebec. He had had surgery on one broken ankle and a broken arm at that hospital, but his other ankle was too swollen to operate on. He now is a patient at St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth. He suffered blistering on that second ankle, too, which is holding up surgery, he said.
The two men were among seven on the plane when its single engine apparently failed about three miles from takeoff at a remote fishing lodge. The pilot and another angler were the most seriously injured. The pilot, who was hospitalized in Quebec City with Hicks, lost an eye as a result of his injuries, Hicks said. But he was up and walking around. Hicks didn't know the condition of the angler who was more seriously injured.
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Another angler and two fishing guides escaped without serious injury.
The other two anglers were from near Stevens Point, Wis., and near Milwaukee, Hicks said.
Hicks said in a telephone interview from St. Mary's on Friday afternoon that it was good to be back in Duluth.
"I'm feeling pretty well," he said, "but I'm realizing how much recovery I'm going to have to do. My goal is to be wading by mid-October for steelhead season, but I don't know. They said it will be six to eight weeks before I am able to put weight on my ankle, and maybe three months for the other one."
